Complicated small bowel diverticulosis--a case report and literature review

We report herein the case of a small bowel diverticulum perforation which has caused peritonitis and consequently has led to operation. The patient, a 79-year old woman, was hospitalized due to etiological clarifying and specifying of a newly diagnosed diffuse liver pathology. During the hospital stay, she has received severe abdominal pain with features of peritonitis. Suspecting perforated appendicitis she has undergone an operation. The explorative laparotomy has identified a purulent exudation in the abdominal cavity, resulting from a perforated inflammatory jejunal diverticulum and multiple middle-size diverticula all along the small bowel and the colon. The reported case as well as the review of the literature have shown that various and sometimes potentially fatal complications could occur even for such a relatively banal insignificant entity as is diverticular disease in elderly patients.